RAM PRODUCTIONS INTERNATIONAL
  • Home
  • How We Can Work Together
  • About Michael Russnow
  • Actor/Personality
    • Sample Reel
    • 2014 Sample Reel
    • Michael Russnow Does Stand-Up
    • Water Into Wine
    • The Time Tree - Older Alex
    • Actor's Slate - One Minute Version
    • Actor's Slate - Four Minute Version
    • Interview on Stanley Dyrector Show - Part One
    • Interview on Stanley Dyrector Show - Part Two
    • Interview on Stanley Dyrector Show - Part Three
    • Interview on Stanley Dyrector Show - Part Four
    • Michael Russnow Speaks Out Episode 1
    • Michael Russnow Speaks Out! - Episode 2
    • Commentators Shouldn't Say Trump Has Pulse of America
  • Huffington Post Articles
    • Business >
      • Abolish Tipping
      • AIG Reverse Stock Split
      • AIG Plummets: Stock Split
      • Asus Computers
      • AT&T Doesn't Communicate
      • Bernard Madoff Swindled Everyone
      • Citigroup Reverse Split
      • Citigroup to Reverse Split
      • Horrible Banking Experiences
      • Is Shelly Sterling Channeling Lurleen Wallace?
      • Los Angeles Parking Meter Signs
      • My GE Dishwasher Tragedy
      • State Controller Has Your Money Available
      • Windows 7 Not As Great As Advertised
      • You Can't Feed Parking Meters
    • Media >
      • Abolish the Electoral College
      • BP Chairman Choice of Words
      • British Nurse Suicide Overblown By Media
      • Ed McMahon's Money Problems
      • Is Media Keeping Trump Alive
      • Los Angeles Times Backtracks on TV Grid
      • Lou Dobbs and His Ilk are Wrong
      • Media Downplays Hillary 3 Million Victory
      • Media Headline Biases
      • Media Inflames Comey Letter Re Hillary
      • Media Mischaracterizes GOP Win
      • Media Props Trump Up, Even When Hillary Wins Debate
      • Media Says Hillary's Not Transparent
      • Media Scare Tactics
      • Media Sensationalizes Obamacare Premium Rise
      • Memo to the Media: Maybe It's Time For a "Spartacus" Moment
      • Obama Asks Pundits Not to Skew Words
      • Obama Gym Workout No Big Deal
      • Obama Promised Change - From Bush and Cheney
      • Obama Would Be Citizen, Even if Born in Kenya
      • Palin Accuses Letterman of Seeking PR
      • What's Happened to the LA Times?
      • White House Gate Crashers
      • Why Does Trump Get More Face Time Than Hillary?
      • Why Media Normalizes Trump
    • Politics >
      • 2012 Iowa Caucuses: Shakespeare Was Right About the Masses
      • 2012 Vice Presidential Debate: Biden Blew Ryan Away
      • 25th Amendment Might Rid Us of Trump
      • Calling for Al Gore
      • Debate 2: Hillary Held Firm, While Trump Lied
      • Donald Trump Comportment: When is Enough Enough?
      • Donald Trump Supporters Are Deplorable
      • Donald Trump Supporters Must Be Stupid
      • Electoral College Support Because Founders Created it
      • Europeans are for Obama
      • French Choose President By CItizenry
      • GOP Senators Continue to Support Trump
      • Has Hillary Given Up in South Dakota?
      • Hillary Beat Trump in Popular Vote
      • James Comey, Legal Moralist or Fool?
      • John McCain No Longer a Hero
      • McCain's Nervous Breakdown
      • McCain/Palin Debate Spin
      • McCain Pulls Out the Heartstrings
      • Obama Accepts Super PAC Money
      • Obama & Clinton Forces, Can't We Get Along?
      • Obama Becoming First Wimp
      • Obama's Decision to Go to Copenhagen
      • Obama First 2012 Debate: Gotta Do Better
      • Obama Has Every Right to Replace Scalia
      • Obama: It's Time to Play Hardball
      • Obama Must Stop Postponing Health Care Law
      • Obama Needs Marc Antony to Get it Right
      • Obama Nobel Peace Prize
      • Obama Second 2012 Debate: Romney Overmatched
      • Obama Third 2012 Debate: He Gives Romney Presidential Seminar
      • Obama Won, But GOP Doesn't Seem to Recognize it
      • Patriotism Not a Republican Virtue
      • Pence Won Debate, Not By Much
      • Political Leaders and Journalists MUST Discuss Popular Presidential Vote
      • Politician/Media Rarely Discuss Americans Preferred Hillary
      • Popular Vote Must Choose Presidency
      • Primary Ballots For Party Members Only
      • Proposition 8 Backlash
      • Redo in Michigan and Florida
      • Religion in Politics
      • Romney Acceptance Speech
      • Rudy Giuliani's Screaming Convention Tirade
      • Ruth Bader Ginsurb's Contempt for Donald Trump
      • Sarah Palin's Appeal is That She's Annie Oakley
      • Sarah Palin's a Right-Wing Gidget
      • Sarah Palin, A Stepford Wife
      • Sarah Palin Is No Dan Quayle
      • Scalia Should Recuse on Gay Issues
      • Senate Refusal to Vote on Scalia Replacement a Sham
      • Should Anthony Weiner Resign?
      • Super Delegates Caved to Obama
      • Trump Is No Populist
      • Trump Name Calling: Why Hasn't it Backfired?
      • Trump Paris Pull-Out, Time To Elect Popular Vote President
      • Trump Performance as President Might Be Best Solution to Change Presidential Election System
      • Trump's Problems Aren't Going Away
      • We've Finally Got Health Care
      • When Does Political Correctness Go Too Far?
      • Will Hillary Have Last Laugh?
    • Show Business >
      • Movies >
        • A Most Violent Year
        • Black Swan a Must See
        • Boyhood: An Engaging Film
        • Che The Movie
        • Clint Eastwood in Gran Torino
        • The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
        • Deborah Kerr, Rhymes With Star
        • Defiance
        • The Fighter
        • Good
        • The Hateful Eight Bloated But Intriguing
        • Honorary Academy Awards Ceremony a Travesty
        • Inception
        • Jackie Chan Should Not Get an Oscar
        • Leonardo DiCaprio Deserves the Oscar for "Wolf of Wall Street"
        • Michael Moore"s Where to Invade Next: Documentary or Propaganda?
        • Minority Report and the Oscar Controversy
        • Mitch Reinholt of American Teen
        • Movie Theatre Etiquette
        • Nicholas Hoult of A Single Man
        • Jackie Chan Gets an Oscar?
        • Quentin Tarantino Afraid Aging Will Make Him Out of Touch
        • The Reader
        • Revolutionary Road
        • Seven Pounds
        • Texting in Theatres Is A Blight
      • Television >
        • The Amazing Race
        • Big Brother: Danielle's Stupid Decision
        • Big Brother: Frank Eudy's Ouster
        • Celebrity Apprentice 2011
        • Charlie Sheen's Rant
        • Conan O'Brien's Pissed
        • David Letterman's Apology to Palin
        • David Letterman Gag Didn't Work
        • Do We Need Intrusive Network Logos
        • Glee Message of Tolerance Misguided
        • Golden Globes 2010
        • Golden Globes 2011
        • Golden Globes 2012
        • Golden Globes 2016
        • Hell's Kitchen's Gordon Ramsay
        • I Can Die Now, I've Met Betty White
        • Lost Finale
        • NBC's Decision to Bring Back Leno
        • Political Correctness on TV
        • Racial Advancement on TV
        • Survivor Caramoan: Why Was Erik Reichenbach Ignored by Jeff Probst?
        • Survivor Nicaragua 2010
        • Survivor Redemption Island 2011
        • Survivor: Samoa 2009
        • Susan Boyle I
        • Susan Boyle II
        • Susan Boyle III - The Finals
        • The Amazing Race: Amazing that Brooke and Scott Made the Top 3
        • The Emmy Awards 2014
        • The Oscars 2010
        • The Oscars 2011
        • The Oscars 2012
        • The Oscars 2013
        • The Oscars 2013 Afterthought: Why MacFarlane's Lincoln Joke Didn't Work
        • The Oscars 2014
        • The Oscars 2015
        • The Oscars 2016
        • The Oscars 2017
        • TV Cops Get Away With Murder
        • TV Shows and Films Shouldn't Screw Talent
        • Young Actors in TV Roles
      • Book of Oded Review
      • Chekhov Alive in Hollywood
      • Cutting Meat in Movies and TV Shows
      • Hal Kanter Memories
      • I Never Cried For My Father
      • Perceptionism is the worst "ism"
      • Robert Anderson Has Died
      • SAG Actors Must Remain Strong
      • SAG Negotiations Marred by Clooney and Hanks
      • Ted Lange's Lady Patriot Onstage
      • Trump Bails Out Ed McMahon
      • WGA Strike For Dummies I
      • WGA Strike For Dummies II
      • WGA Strike For Dummies III
      • WGA Strike For Dummies IV
    • Travel >
      • Airline Fees Are Chintzy
      • Airline Service Is a Sham
      • Bitching Can Be Effective
      • Morocco Can Be Intriguing
      • Volcano in Iceland
    • It's Not Easy to Become a Juror
  • My Novel
  • LA Fitness Has Terrible Customer Service
  • Political Correctness Should Be Challenged
    • Contact
  • Sarah Palin Says She's Not Responsible
  • Remedies When You've Been Cheated
  • The Iguassu Falls
  • Getting to Rio
  • Rio de Janeiro
  • São Paulo
  • London Film Award Certificate



BP CHAIRMAN'S UNFORTUNATE CHOICE OF WORDS

Once Again the Media Fanned  Hysteria --
Over Absolutely Nothing

 

Picture
                                                                                                      The Huffington Post, June 17, 2010


I am not a fan of BP, and the oil company deserves the heap of criticism tossed its way, but I believe the media has once
again behaved outrageously.  Instead of continuing valid coverage of the horrid oil spill and the devastation it has wrought
to the lives and property of so many people, the media devoted too much attention Wednesday to the choice of a word used
by the head of the company.

BP Chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg told reporters in Washington: "I hear comments sometimes that large oil companies are greedy companies or don't care, but that is not the case with BP.  We care about the small people."

In typical fashion, the media pounced on Svanberg's use of the word "small," even though they fully well knew the speaker was Swedish and that, while he spoke English fluently, it was not his native language.

Indeed, Anderson Cooper, whom I generally like, made it the opening story in his hour long CNN broadcast, spending precious minutes about the unintentional gaffe.  Then, in a presumed attempt to appear fair, Cooper reminded us that Svanberg was a foreigner and that in using
the word "small" he probably meant "ordinary."

So, if Cooper understood that and realized Svanberg's intent was to drive home the point (whether or not it was sincere)
that BP was not insensitive and cared about the ordinary and average folks whose incomes have been ravaged, why did
Cooper continue to fan the flames?

Moreover, after Cooper instructed us that Svanberg didn't mean the word as an insult, he reversed course by repetitively
citing different examples of the people he has met -- shrimpers, fishermen, shopkeepers and the like -- each time scolding Svanberg by reminding him they are not small people.  Why was it necessary to do that when he'd already admitted it was
not Svanberg's intent to belittle them?

Could it be that by doing so it created another story upon a story that really shouldn't have needed any dramatic embellishing?  All for the purpose of engaging a possibly wearying audience that has grown a bit tired hearing about the environmental
tragedy, preferring new developments or an established fix rather than repetitious retelling that Cooper and others have put
forth each and every night.   And it was not only Anderson Cooper, as the story of Svanberg's use of the word "small" was broadcast by Lester Holt on Brian Williams' NBC newscast and also on CBS, ABC, Fox News, and in magazines and newspapers everywhere -- as well as clips on YouTube, mentions on Facebook, tweets on Twitter and in blogs all over Google.

Anderson Cooper has become obsessed with this story and, while I give him credit for caring and wanting a solution to the seemingly unending mish-mash of BP and our federal government, it might be time to give the story to someone else.  He devotes too much time in his daily reminders that BP was invited to appear and refuses to do so.  The other night, he actually showed a montage of his invitations over the past few weeks.  To all this I'd say, hey, Anderson, if I were the BP brass I wouldn't appear on your show either.  The more you keep editorializing and acting less like a reporter you think they're crazy enough
to come on with you?

That Cooper and others focused attention on Svanberg's choice of words, which I'm convinced was innocent in spite of his company's demonstrated ineptitude regarding the oil spill, was inept journalism itself.   Indeed most reported that Svanberg
later said he was very sorry for speaking "clumsily."  Yet, the media acted as if he'd said it while being interviewed riding in a gilded coach while throwing coins to the rabble below.  As if it showed his Marie Antoinette side, which might work as a
Saturday Night Live skit -- and I'll bet they're already writing it -- I would -- but it's ridiculous to assume it were so.

BP has enough to be ashamed for, from its incompetent oil drilling, mismanagement and behavior during the aftermath.
For those things, Mr. Svanberg and CEO Tony Hayward are surely culpable.  But a Swedish man using the wrong English word -- something anyone with English-speaking foreign friends hears all the time -- was nothing at all.  And the fact that Anderson Cooper and the rest of the media knew it but fanned the incident to a level of hysteria has to make one wonder how much to believe them about anything else they have to say?

                                                 Follow Michael Russnow on Twitter: www.twitter.com/kerrloy

                                                                                                                                                        Contact Us

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.